Tuesday,
September 7, 2010
Minor League Seasons Complete
·
My TwinsCentric
StarTribune.com article this week plays a game of 20 Questions, all
related to the rest of the Twins season.
·
I’ve been on several podcasts of late:
o On Saturday
morning, I was on the Dez Says Twins podcast accidentally. I was driving
and called in to listen to the show. I meant to push a button to turn on the
speaker phone, but instead hit the #1 so I was on the show for a couple of
minutes.
o On Sunday night,
Travis Aune and I hosted a ˝ hour version of the SethSpeaks.net
Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast and discussed the Rangers series, the
Matt Fox situation, Ben Revere and much more.
o When that show
finished, I was a guest/co-host on Fanatic
Jack’s podcast that included Darren “Doogie”
Wolfson, Louie Schuth
and Dez Tobin as well.
o Last night, I
again hosted a full hour of the SethSpeaks.net
Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast. I was joined by the original Twins
bloggers, John Bonnes and Aaron Gleeman to discuss several Twins-related
topics.
o Tonight at
10:00, Travis Aune and I will co-host Twins
Minor League Weekly and hand out a few awards to several thoughts on
the seasons.
With the games played on Monday, the Twins minor league season is over.
It has come to an end. As you know, Rochester and New Britain had really bad
seasons in terms of wins and losses. Ft. Myers was in contention for a playoff
spot in the second half of the Florida State League until about a week before
the season ended. Beloit was in contention for a playoff spot until their
second-to-last game. Elizabethton was the organization’s one team that did make
the playoffs. Last week, they won their first round playoff series 2-0, but
over the weekend, they played in the Appalachian League championship series.
See below how they did. The Gulf Coast Twins’ season came to an end just over a
week ago.
As tough as the season was for the teams, there were still several
prospects that maintained and even improved their prospect status. We will dive
further into that throughout the offseason and in the 2011 Prospect Handbook.
But here at SethSpeaks.net, I have been providing game scores, notes and
highlights from the minor leagues since their season started in April. Today
will be the last day of minor league game highlights until next April.
TWINS MINOR
LEAGUE NOTEBOOK
Here is a look at the minor league scores and highlights from the long,
Labor Day weekend:
Red Wings Report
Friday – Rochester 1, Syracuse
4 – Chris Province struck out a career-high 12
batters in 6.2 innings. He gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. Kyle Waldrop came in and gave up one
run on three hits in 2.1 innings. He walked on (intentionally) and struck one
out. Matt Macri
went 2-4 with his 23rd double. Brock Peterson was 1-2 with two walks.
Saturday – Rochester 8,
Syracuse 2 – The Red Wings broke their 12 game losing streak
thanks to a lot of offense and a quality bullpen game. Brandon Roberts went 3-5 with his sixth and seventh doubles. Brian Dinkelman went
2-5 with his 32nd double, ninth stolen base and three RBI. Danny Lehmann went 2-2 with a walk and
two doubles. Dustin Martin hit his
11th home run. Glen Perkins
started and gave up one run in three innings. He allowed three hits, walked one
and struck out one. Carlos Gutierrez
gave up two hits and a walk in three shutout innings in his AAA Debut. Pat Neshek
gave up one run on three hits in 1.1 innings. Anthony Slama got the final five outs,
two of them on strikeouts.
Sunday – Rochester 4,
Buffalo 6 (10 innings) – Steve Hirschfeld made his first AAA
start. In six innings, he gave up three runs on six hits. He walked one and
struck out two. Jose Lugo gave up a run on a hit and a walk
and got two outs. Kyle Waldrop got
the next four outs, two of them on strikeouts. Anthony Slama pitched a perfect inning. Cole DeVries
gave up two runs in the tenth inning and two walks and a hit. Erik Lis went
3-4 with his sixth home run with the Red Wings. He has definitely been much
improved since he returned to the Red Wings. Danny Lehmann went 2-3 with a walk and his seventh double. Jacque Jones and Brandon Roberts each had two hits.
Monday – Rochester 1,
Buffalo 16 – Anthony Swarzak fell to 5-12 with a 6.21 ERA
after his five innings in this game. He gave up six runs (5 earned) on seven
hits and two walks. Chris Province
gave up a run on three hits in his inning. Carlos
Gutierrez gave up a run on three hits and a walk in his inning. He struck
out two. Jose Lugo gave up five runs
on four hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. He struck out three. Toby Gardenhire
then got the opportunity to pitch. He gave up three runs on three hits and a
walk in 2/3 of an inning. He did strike out one batter. The Red Wings bats
managed just three hits. Jacque Jones
went 2-4 with his fourth home run.
New Britain Notes
Friday – New Britain 6,
Trenton 20 – Bruce Pugh made the start and gave up ten runs (6 earned) on seven
hits and three walks in just 1.2 innings. Blake
Martin came in and gave up four runs (2 earned) on three hits and two walks
in three innings. Steve Blevins then
gave up six runs (5 earned) on seven hits in 3.1 innings. Matt Williams had to come in and pitch one inning. Steve Singleton went 2-4 with his
seventh home run. Ben Revere went
2-4.
Saturday – New Britain
10, Trenton 7 – Joe Benson replaced Ben
Revere in the leadoff spot in the order, and he led off the game with his
21st AA home (25th overall). He went 2-3 with two walks
and the home run in the game. Mark Dolenc was 3-4 with a walk, his 16th and 17th
doubles and his 15th stolen base. Juan Portes went 3-4 with a walk and his
ninth home run. Chris Cates went
3-5. Kane Holbrooks
made his first AA start. In five innings, he gave up three runs (2 earned) on
six hits and a walk. He struck out three. Dakota
Watts went 1.2 innings and gave up four runs on two hits. He walked two and
struck out two. Billy Bullock struck
out three in 2.1 one-hit, shutout innings.
Sunday – New Britain 4,
Trenton 1 – Matt Williams was back to starting in this game. He gave up one run on
six hits and four walks in six innings. Bobby
Lanigan got two outs before Steve Blevins struck out three in 2.1 perfect innings. Joe Benson went 3-4 with his 22nd
and 23rd home runs. Evan Bigley was 3-4 with his eighth and ninth doubles. Juan Portes
was 2-4 with his 17th double.
Monday – New Britain 2,
Trenton 5 – Tyler Robertson started and gave up four runs on eight hits. He walked
one and struck out two. Dakota Watts
then gave up a run on two hits in two innings. He struck out three. Blake Martin then pitched a scoreless
inning. The Rockcats managed five hits. Steve Singleton connected for his 43rd
double. Chris Cates hit his fifth
double.
Miracle Matters
Friday – Ft. Myers 9, St.
Lucie 7 – Michael Tarsi returned to the rotation and gave up two runs on four
hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out five. Shooter Hunt came in and walked three and hit one without recording
an out. Matt Schuld
came in and gave up three runs on five hits in four innings. He struck out
four. Angel Morales, Yangervis Solarte and Deibinson Romero each went 2-5 with a double. Nathan Hanson hit his tenth home run
and drove in three runs.
Saturday – Ft. Myers 2,
St. Lucie 8 (6 Innings – Rain) – Deibinson Romero continued to rake. He
went 3-3 with his 16th double. Brian
Dozier knocked his fifth home run. Nick
Alloway
came up from the GCL to start. He gave up five runs on six hits and three walks
in 2.2 innings. Brett Carroll also
was up from the GCL. He went three innings and gave up three runs on five hits.
He struck out four.
Sunday – Ft. Myers 12,
St. Lucie 2 –
Alex Wimmers started the final game for the
Miracle. He gave up one run on four hits in five innings. He walked one and
struck out nine. He recorded the win and ended at 2-0 with a 0.57 ERA. Zach See came in for the final four
innings. He gave up a run on three hits. Deibinson Romero went 3-4 with a walk, three RBI and his first stolen base
of the season. Drew Thompson went
2-4 with a walk and his fourth stolen base. Brian Dozier was 2-5.
Snappers Snippets
Game 1 - Friday – Beloit
4, Clinton 5 – This game resumed in the second inning after it was suspended due to rain
on Thursday. Brad Stillings
had pitched a scoreless inning on Thursday. Clinton Dempster started on Friday and
gave up four runs (3 earned) on seven hits in six innings. He walked two and
struck out four. Matt Tone gave up
one run on two hits in an inning. Aaron
Hicks went 2-3 with a walk and his seventh home run. Steve Liddle hit his 14th home
run.
Game 2 - Friday – Beloit
8, Clinton 2 – In the second game, Stillings started again. He
gave up one run on two hits in four innings. He walked five and struck out
four. Nelvin Fuentes gave up one run on two hits in
two innings. He struck out four. Peter
Kennelly threw a scoreless inning. James
Beresford went 2-3 with a walk. Michael
Harrington was 2-4. Steve Liddle went 1-2
with two walks.
Saturday – Beloit 4,
Cedar Rapids 5 – Martire Garcia gave up three runs on
four hits and three walks in four innings. He struck out four. Pedro Guerra gave up one run on two
hits in 1.2 innings. He walked two. Andrei
Lobanov threw two shutout innings. Miguel Munoz then gave up one run on
three hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Aaron
Hicks went 1-3 with two walks and his eighth home run. Wang-Wei Lin went 2-3. Josmil Pinto and James Beresford each hit a double.
Sunday – Beloit 5, Cedar
Rapids 13 – Tom Stuifbergen made the final start of his
season. He gave up four runs on seven hits in four innings. He walked one and
struck out three. Eliecer Cardenas gave up two runs on two hits
over the next two innings. Nelvin Fuentes
allowed two unearned runs in two innings. Matt
Tone then gave up five runs on five hits and recorded just two outs. Peter Kennelly then walked two before
getting the final out. Lance Ray
went 2-3 with two walks. Reggie Williams
and James Beresford were each 2-6. Josmil Pinto and Wang-Wei Lin were each 2-5. Danny
Rams was 2-4 with a walk and his 28th double.
Monday – Beloit 5, Cedar
Rapids 6 – Steve Liddle ended the season on a really
good note. He went 3-4 with his 16th double, 15th home
run and 14th stolen base. Danny
Rams added his 16th home run. Wang-Wei Lin and James
Beresford each went 2-3. Sam
Spangler started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits. He walked
three and struck out two. Edgar Ibarra gave up two runs on four hits
and three walks in 2.1 innings. Pedro
Guerra came in and walked a batter and gave up a hit before coming out. Andrei Lobanov
went the next 2.1 innings and gave up just one hit. Miguel Munoz came in for the ninth and gave up two runs on two
walks and two hits for the loss.
E-Twins Talkers
Friday – E-Twins 2,
Johnson City 7 – Pat Dean pitched great for the E-Twins, but it wasn’t enough on
this night. In six innings, the left-hander gave up two runs on seven hits. He
struck out eight and did not walk any. Ryan
O’Rourke came in and gave up three runs (2 earned) on four hits in an
inning. Dallas Gallant gave up two
runs on two hits and two walks in two innings. He struck out two. Jamaal Hawkins went 2-4 with a double. Gunner Glad went 2-3.
Saturday – E-Twins 2,
Johnson City 6 – Logan Darnell started Game 2, and gave up four runs on seven hits and two
walks in 6.2 innings. He walked two and struck out six. Michael Tonkin got the
final four outs, allowing two runs (1 earned) on one hit. Jamaal Hawkins went 2-4 with a home run. He had two of the team’s
five hits.
With the two losses, the Elizabethton Twins’ season
ended. Johnson City won the Appalachian League championship.
Any thoughts on the Twins or the Twins minor leagues? Feel free to leave
your questions and comments here.